Saturday 26 March 2022, 7.30pm
Hackney-based experimental label Misc., aka Misc.Works, celebrates 5 years of sonic vandalism/ART at Hackney's best small space, with a super-special guest and some equally special locals in tow(n).
Joining us from tekno-futurist world capital Berlin, Hainbach – Stefan Goetsch by day – will play his long-awaited London debut, drawing on a fearsome back-catalogue of drone excursions, tape experiments, synth forays, DAW tinkerings, piano workouts and, for Misc. over recent times, brain-frying test equipment techno jams (and beyond); not mentioning his 100000-strong YouTube op. Of tonight’s show, he says: “The main instrument I am playing is a re-purposed DJ tool, the Vestax Faderboard. Instead of scratching and cutting on it, I am using it to rework bits-and-pieces of upcoming album and performanceSchlaufenzeit, a heavy early-electronics ambient record. The other instruments are built by friends of mine in Berlin: a sub-bass Kalimba is my percussion source, and the Cocoquantus messes everything up until all is glorious noise.” You have been warned!
Joining Hainbach, Misc. co-chief Datassette will play a rare live PA, drawing on his recent, ambient-ish Zetex tape, “a response to, and in part constructed from, the sound of the ever-unfurling, grey machinery of London”. His cult following is regularly treated to arty bootleg tomfoolery, squelching machine-kore, adjacent club de-/re-constructions, mixed belters and BUSINESS FUNK, while his Misc. label specialises in ‘weird things nobody else cares about’ (and good tunes sometimes too, obv). For this most special of occasions, to celebrate Misc.’s arrival at the five-years-closer-to-the-end mark, he will present “generative synth techniques and processed street recordings, used throughoutZetex – alienating, chaotic and noisy, but peaceful, inspiring and beautiful”. Yes please.
Amanda Butterworth, whose multi-dimensional soundsystem electronics always impress, will play the evening’s third live show, hot on the heels of a fabulous new (yes) tape for Misc. comrades Frequency Domain. Her work as Mücha – including a knockout compilation of archival songscapes, for YT – is a constellation of influences and ideas that sits in a space of its own, both ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ the genres it courts: vintage space-pop/shoegaze, rolling ‘94/5 jungle, the inaugural techno of Atkins and Hood, whispery IDM, Krautrock, and the overlapping avant-futurisms of Cage, Reich, Riley, Derbyshire and Anderson. Leaning into the latter tonight, Mücha will “sample and manipulate my voice, and interplay with live vocals” – with added drum synth, to keep yr planted feet tapping.
Support comes from the little-known Kessler V (wot done Misc.'s first release) and the excellent Orrest (wot done our fourth release), live/DJing and DJDJing respectively, before and between the above-mentioned sets. Tickets are on sale now via RA, for 10/13 sheets + BF, and doors are open from half 7 till midnight. That’s really all you need to know. See you down there?
Based out of Berlin, Germany, electro-acoustic composer and “that guy with the sweaters” Hainbach creates experimental music that is both visceral and whimsical. Using esoteric synthesizers, test equipment and magnetic tape he creates one hell of a trip in his improvised live sets. He shares techniques on experimental music on his YouTube channel, which has attracted a regular audience of over 100000 subscribers. His music has been released on Seil Records, Opal Tapes, SA Recordings and misc.works.
A "veteran of the underground", "ambient-electro lynchpin" and one of electronic music's "stealthiest undercover operatives". Datassette produces addictive, complex music with heart, employing a blend of vintage hardware and modern digital techniques, refusing to settle on any genre, and inventing a few new ones along the way. An extensive and diverse back catalogue spanning 20 years includes albums, EPs and remixes for dozens of independent labels including Ai Records, Apollo/R&S, Wall Of Sound, CPU, Shipwrec, Future Massive, Frequency Domain, and Rebel Intelligence.
Commissions include a ten-channel ambient soundscape for the Norwegian Maritime Museum, music for TV and radio spots, 8-bit video game sound effects, and bespoke geotagged music inspired by architecture for the Musicity Global project. In between music production and graphic design work, he also curates the much loved Music For Programming podcast, co-runs Misc., the label specialising in releasing artists unexpected side-projects.
Amanda Butterworth – otherwise known as Mücha – makes dreamy, sometimes dark, analogue and digital songscapes that shimmer, challenge, and always tell a story, if you listen closely.
A fine artist by training, self-taught multi-instrumentalist and DJ since her late teens, Mücha possesses a radiant singing voice, reclusive in some works (The Colour of Longing, 2016), less so in others (Misc. Works, 2018), and always there – an instrument and portal, medium and message, omnipresent in her oeuvre in shifting forms and modes. Her releases to date, for her native London’s Blank Editions, Misc. and, most recently, lauded Glasgow drone-house Broken20, paint a picture of continuous expansion – sonic, thematic and methodological – and graft: digging in, knuckling down, pushing on and through against the flow/odds. This is how artists, real ones, roll.
And Mücha’s art is just that: hers; hard to place; a constellation of influences and ideas that sits in a space of its own, both ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ the genres it courts. Of these, there are many: vintage space-pop and the shoegaze that spawned it, rolling ‘94/5 jungle (with the bouncing bass and clattering breaks), the inaugural techno of Atkins and Hood, whispery ‘IDM’, Krautrock, and the overlapping avant-futurisms of Cage, Reich, Riley, Derbyshire and Anderson. A melting-pot approach underpins everything Butterworth does, but also a purism. Miscellany, work, colour and longing… it’s all there.
“Reframing dance music” is, in her words, what Mücha seeks to do. She hasn’t set herself an easy task. But recent gigs at (arguably) London’s best club, support for (arguably) the world’s best band, and a new release in the pipeline alongside figures from both sites, suggest the direction of travel is, right now, just fine.
